Juneau does not need permission to live its values

Downtown Juneau at night. (Photo by Dorene Lorenz)

By Dorene Lorenz

There’s a difference between a slogan and a standard. When a city calls itself a “Human Rights City,” it may sound like branding, but it’s something much deeper.

It’s an acknowledgment of duty.

Under the treaties the United States has already signed, every community shares in the responsibility to uphold the promise of human rights. Whether we have declared the title or not, that expectation already lives here.

More than half a century ago, the United States pledged to uphold core international human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention Against Torture, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

These were not symbolic gestures meant to decorate the walls of diplomacy. They were binding promises, solemnly made.

Article 50 of the Covenant makes it clear that those obligations extend to all parts of a federal state, without limitation or exception. In other words, Washington may sign the treaties, but we all carry the weight of their meaning.

The federal government sometimes tempers those promises by calling the treaties “non-self-executing,” a technical term that means Congress must pass laws before the treaties can be directly enforced in U.S. courts. Yet this fine print does not dissolve the obligation itself.

International law continues to expect the United States, and by extension, Alaska and Juneau, to make human rights real where people live their lives.

The United Nations Human Rights Committee and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination have been clear: these responsibilities apply to all levels of government.

Every zoning decision, public health plan, or cultural investment in Juneau is part of the way our nation fulfills its word.

Human rights do not hover abstractly above us. They live in the everyday details of how a community treats its people with fairness, transparency, and dignity.

The good news is that Juneau already practices many of these principles instinctively.

Our Human Rights Commission gives residents a seat at the table and ensures the conversation about equity never ends.

The city’s anti-discrimination ordinance prohibits unequal treatment on the basis of race, sex, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression, a standard broader and more inclusive than federal law.

The Empty Chair Memorial and the biennial Celebration Festival honor both cultural heritage and historic justice, ensuring that those who came before us are not forgotten.

Through partnerships with the Douglas Indian Association and the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida, Juneau actively strengthens Indigenous representation and rights.

Organizations such as the Alaska Institute for Justice and AWARE extend protection to refugees, survivors, and vulnerable residents, translating treaty principles into lived compassion.

Our environmental programs, from reducing diesel emissions to advancing renewable energy, echo the growing recognition that the right to a healthy environment is, indeed, a human right.

Each of these efforts embodies the spirit of those international treaties.

Together, they demonstrate that Juneau already acts as a human rights city in practice, if not yet in name.

The next question is whether we have the courage to name what we already are.

Becoming an official Human Rights City would not impose new legal burdens. It would unify our identity, give coherence to our values, and set a clear framework for decision-making.

When the city debates new development or considers infrastructure priorities, a simple question could guide the process: does this policy honor human dignity? That question, consistently asked, changes everything.

Juneau’s character makes this especially powerful. We are a small capital with a large conscience.

We sit at the meeting point of natural beauty and cultural resilience, grounded in Indigenous wisdom and sustained by community trust.

Our city’s leadership in equality and environmental stewardship already speaks to global values.

When the United States reports to the United Nations on its human rights record, it’s communities like ours that make those reports credible.

By consciously aligning our local decisions with the treaties our nation has signed, we strengthen both our city and our country’s moral standing in the world.

A formal resolution by the Assembly would be a meaningful first step.

It could affirm that Juneau recognizes its role in helping the United States meet its treaty obligations and commit the city to consider human rights impacts in major decisions involving housing, the environment, and community well-being.

That single act would mark us as a city that does more than talk about rights, we live them.

Human rights are not abstract ideals. They are how a city chooses to show up for its people.

They are the air we breathe when fairness, safety, and respect are built into our institutions. They are the warmth we feel when culture is celebrated, not erased.

The federal government may sign the treaties, but it is cities like ours that keep the promise.

Juneau does not need permission to live its values. We simply need the courage to claim them.

• Dorene Lorenz is the chair of the Alaska Commission for Human Rights.